Board of Education, meeting in Flagler, calls for record funding

BUNNELL — As they wait for state lawmakers to approve a budget, local officials cheered a call from the state Board of Education to increase school funding to its highest levels.

Flagler County officials and employees attended the state board meeting Wednesday at the Government Services Building in Bunnell. Board members unanimously passed a resolution asking state lawmakers to support Gov. Rick Scott’s proposal to increase the state’s K-12 education budget from $18.9 billion to $19.75 billion, which would result in the most generous per-student spending in the state’s history at $7,176. (Adjusted for inflation, PolitiFact Florida found the funds fall short of the $7,126-per-student funding under former Gov. Charlie Crist in 2007-08. That funding level would be worth $8,032 in today’s dollars.)